AMPA -- A year after the fire that started it all, a federal grand
jury on Thursday indicted the Rev. Henry J. Lyons on 56 charges
that could send one of the nation's most prominent African-American
religious leaders to prison for two decades.

Lyons, the 56-year-old president of the National Baptist Convention
USA Inc., surrendered himself to authorities, and then was led,
hands cuffed behind his back, to a courtroom where a judge ticked
off every allegation against him in the 74-page indictment.

"The message that we're sending is really to leaders who hold
positions of trust or leaders of charitable or religious or civic
organizations who have access to large sums of money," U.S. Attorney
Charles Wilson said in announcing the indictment. "And the message
that we're really sending is that we've got to hold them accountable
for their actions."

Also indicted Thursday were Bernice Edwards and Brenda Harris,
two high-ranking associates who have been linked romantically
to Lyons.

Edwards, the NBC's former public relations director, was charged
with 25 charges while Harris, the NBC's meeting planner, was charged
with eight offenses.

The indictment is remarkable for its scope: The list of crimes
includes wire fraud, bank fraud, mail fraud, tax evasion, extortion,
money laundering and conspiracy. The alleged victims include banks,
corporations, government agencies, and groups dedicated to registering
black voters and repairing burned African-American churches.

Wilson passionately rejected claims by some Lyons supporters that
the indictment is another example of the government targeting
prominent black leaders.

"I am convinced that the vast majority of black Baptists in this
country are sickened and disgusted by the conduct that is alleged
in this indictment and they are, in fact, today cheering the return
of this indictment," said Wilson, who is black.

Wilson said he expects more indictments.

As Thursday's indictment was announced, federal authorities moved
swiftly to seize millions of dollars in assets they allege were
illegally obtained by Lyons, Edwards and Harris.

Prosecutors secured orders freezing 20 bank accounts. They seized
jewelry and cars, and filed claims against the defendants' homes,
including the $700,000 waterfront home on Tierra Verde that Lyons
owns with Edwards.

Last July 6, investigators say, Lyons' wife of 25 years ransacked
and set fire to the home because she suspected Lyons and Edwards
were having an affair. The fire prompted state and federal investigations.

In a statement, Lyons' attorney Grady Irvin said Lyons will continue
on as president of the National Baptist Convention USA Inc., and
as pastor of his St. Petersburg church, Bethel Metropolitan.

"We look forward to a trial on the merits and Rev. Lyons' acquittal,"
Irvin said. "I hope the end result will be that the public will
have a greater understanding of the inner workings of the black
church in America and how many corporations target certain of
its influential leaders for endorsements, both political and economic."

After Lyons' release on bond Thursday afternoon, he attended a
Bible class at his church, Irvin said.

In five minutes, grand jury votes to indict

On Thursday morning, the mood was giddy outside the grand jury
room on the fourth floor of the old Federal Courthouse in downtown
Tampa

Ken Lawson, a youthful assistant U.S. attorney leading the federal
case against Lyons, arrived early, jaunty and smiling, shaking
hands with jurors.

"The big day, huh?" a juror said to Lawson.

For months, these jurors, all white, had gathered on Thursdays
to hear testimony about the doings of Lyons, a man once so powerful
that heads of state and America's CEOs sought his friendship.

Lawson's boss, U.S. Attorney Wilson, a man not known to be a headline
hound, sent out a wave of news releases at 9 a.m., notifying reporters
of a 12:30 p.m. media event: "Mr. Wilson will announce the return
of the indictment: United States vs. Henry J. Lyons, Bernice V.
Edwards, and Brenda D. Harris," the statement said.

Never mind that the grand jurors -- the ones who actually vote
on who gets indicted -- hadn't yet convened. As it turned out,
Wilson's prediction was on the mark. After spending about an hour
reviewing the indictment with the grand jury, the prosecutors
and the stenographer left the jury room to allow the jurors to
vote on indictments in private.

It took the jurors all of five minutes.

About 11 a.m., the grand jury foreman emerged carrying an armload
of the 74-page indictments.

Meanwhile, in a high-rise office building a few blocks away, top
IRS, FBI and Justice Department officials were gathering for Wilson's
news conference.

Flanked by charts outlining the charges, Wilson described what
he called an "extremely comprehensive indictment."

The case, he said, is about trust betrayed.

"Lyons, Edwards and Harris are charged in this indictment," he
said in a firm voice, "with using the National Baptist Convention
as a vehicle to steal and extort millions of dollars from various
corporations, organizations, and financial institutions."

And then, he charged, Lyons used the "proceeds of these frauds"
to finance a "lavish lifestyle" of country club memberships, fancy
cars, jewelry and "houses throughout the United States."

In part, the federal case mirrors the state charges brought against
Lyons and Edwards in February, when Pinellas-Pasco State Attorney
Bernie McCabe charged the two with racketeering.

As in the state case, the federal indictment alleges that Lyons
and Edwards used fraud and extortion and false claims about the
size of the NBC to steal millions of dollars from corporations
seeking to market products to Baptists.

Like the state case, the federal indictment accuses Lyons of stealing
more than $200,000 the Anti-Defamation League donated to repair
burned churches. And as with the state case, the federal case
does not allege that the NBC was a victim.

But what really distinguishes the federal case is that its scope
exceeds the state charges.

Take the first count of the indictment, which accuses Lyons, Edwards
and Harris of conspiracy. That one count lists 95 "overt acts"
the three allegedly engaged in as part of their conspiracy: Creating
secret slush funds. Money laundering. Scores of forgeries. Extortions.
Frauds of dizzying variety. Victims galore, including six different
banks, six corporations, the Anti-Defamation League, the U.S.
Department of Housing and Urban Development, and even the military
dictatorship of Nigeria.

That's count one of the indictment. Sixty more counts follow,
many involving crimes not contemplated by the state charges.

Tax evasion is one example.

In 1995, Lyons reported that his taxable income was $7,585. His
unreported income, according to the indictment: $199,006. In 1996,
Lyons said his taxable income was $20,449. The indictment says
he failed to report another $335,683 in income.

According to prosecutors, Lyons owes $534,689 in taxes from those
two years.

Edwards, meanwhile, failed to file any tax returns for the same
two years, though the indictment alleges she earned $513,237 during
that time. Her tax bill: $194,447, prosecutors say.

Several of the specific allegations have never before surfaced
in media accounts or the state investigation:

With $50,090 from one secret bank account, Lyons bought a 1995
Land Rover in Wisconsin. The car was bought in his name, but it
was used by Edwards.

Lyons supplied nearly all of the $102,000 Brenda Harris used as
a cash down payment on the $340,000 home she purchased in Nashville.

In 1996, Lyons stole $50,000 that was supposed to have been spent
registering black voters. The money was supplied by the National
Coalition on Black Voter Participation Inc. of Washington, D.C.

Bernice Edwards arrested at her Milwaukee home

* * *

As Wilson began his news conference, Henry Lyons arrived at the
federal courthouse dressed in his trademark outfit, a dark suit
and a National Baptist Convention lapel pin.

In Nashville, meanwhile, Brenda Harris' attorneys learned their
client was being indicted when a reporter called their offices.
Then lawyers Nader Baydoun and Peter Strianse spoke with representatives
from Wilson's office. Then they called Harris.

She was at the NBC headquarters, like most days, at work.

On Monday, Harris and her attorneys will fly to Tampa for an initial
court appearance, Baydoun said. No time had been set for the hearing,
but Baydoun said prosecutors have agreed to the plan. Harris was
not required to appear in court sooner.

"We are making arrangements to come to Tampa and then we will
began preparing a defense," said Baydoun. "We deny everything."

In Milwaukee, Bernice Edwards, who has a previous federal embezzling
conviction, was not allowed as much leeway. Reached at her home
in Milwaukee on Thursday morning, Edwards politely declined to
comment on possible criminal charges.

By 11 a.m., Milwaukee time, a warrant had been issued for her
arrest.

At 11:10 a.m., FBI agents were at her house. She was taken into
custody without incident.

Edwards wore a skirt, a jacket decorated with bright flowers and
handcuffs as two federal agents led her into a Milwaukee courtroom.

U.S. Magistrate William E. Callahan released Edwards on a $250,000
bond, secured by her $53,000 house. Edwards surrendered her passport
and must check in every day with probation officials until she
turns herself in to Florida officials next week.

Edwards "carries no credibility" with federal probation officials
in Milwaukee because most of the crimes with which she is now
charged were committed while she was on probation for her earlier
conviction, Assistant U.S. Attorney Steven Biskupic told the court.
(Biskupic also was Edwards' prosecutor in those earlier charges,
four years ago.)

Federal officials also began seizing property Thursday.

In Milwaukee, agents took the 1995 Land Rover Country Classic,
which Lyons bought but Edwards drove. They took four pieces of
jewelry from her house, and $22,000 more in gems she had put up
at local pawnshops in recent months.

In Wisconsin, Florida and Tennessee, officials plan to take more.

Federal prosecutors want to seize $1.8-million in cash that flowed
from the alleged schemes. They want to seize property, including
Lyons' family home in St. Petersburg, Harris' Nashville house
and a time-share condominium Lyons and Edwards bought in Lake
Tahoe. The prosecutors have frozen bank accounts, including several
key NBC accounts.

Since the fire, Lyons has sold off some of the items he acquired
with Edwards, including a $135,000 Mercedes-Benz. Prosecutors
are going after the proceeds of those sales, as well.

And they want to seize 39 pieces of jewelry. Among the items:
a 20-carat diamond ring, diamond cuff links, and a man's gold
watch, cut with a diamond. In all, 14 diamonds made the list.

Lyons handcuffed as he is led into courtroom

By lottery, the case has been assigned to U.S. District Judge
Henry Lee Adams Jr., the only African-American among Tampa's five
federal district judges.

Adams is a native of Jacksonville and a former student teacher.
He became Jacksonville's first black judge when he was appointed
to the state bench in 1979. President Clinton nominated Adams
for the federal bench in 1993.

In Adams' Tampa chambers, pictures of Martin Luther King Jr. and
Malcolm X hang from the walls.

On Thursday afternoon, however, the first hearing in the case
was presided over by U.S. Magistrate Thomas B. McCoun III.

Reporters and curious clerks and lawyers filled the benches of
first floor courtroom.

In past court appearances, Lyons has arrived with an entourage
of friends, parishioners and lawyers. He came Thursday with his
wife, daughter and one lawyer. Two U.S. marshals also flanked
him.

Lyons entered the first floor courtroom shortly after 2 p.m. Thursday
with his hands handcuffed behind his back. The crowded room turned
silent.

During a break, marshals allowed Lyons to move closer to his wife,
Deborah, who stood at the rail near the defense table. So long
as you don't touch, the marshal cautioned.

As McCoun began describing each count of the indictment, Lyons
sat forward, looking directly at the judge. Every few words, Lyons
nodded agreeably.

But as the number of counts drew into the 10s, then the 20s, the
nodding stopped. Lyons hunched slightly. By 30, then 40, Lyons
was motionless. The counts went on.

If convicted, Lyons could be sentenced under federal guidelines
to 18 to 20 years in prison.

The full impact of the day's charges and frozen assets became
clear when McCoun tried to set Lyons bond so he could go home
for the July Fourth holiday.

Lawson, the prosecutor, argued that bond for Lyons should be set
at $125,000 and secured by Lyons' assets. But Lyons' attorney,
Grady Irvin, said Lyons had no assets left.

What about certificates of deposit, bank accounts, a salary, the
judge inquired? Irvin said all Lyons had left was his promise
to appear at every hearing.

The judge wanted more.

McCoun allowed Lyons to go free, but told him to return Monday
with friends willing to co-sign for an $125,000 bond. "Dr. Lyons,
the risk in this is not really to you. It's to your friends,"
McCoun said. -- Information for this story also was supplied by the Milwaukee
Journal Sentinel.